AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You look like hell,” Arnett said to her.
“Such a charmer.” Lopez glared at him. “Those without mirrors should not throw stones.”
“I’m just concerned,” Arnett objected.
“Three crime scenes in three days.” Marzillo shook her head and gulped her coffee, eyes closed to savor it, then reluctantly set it back down. “I just forwarded you the ME’s report for Deena Scott. We’re waiting for the tox screen, of course, but otherwise, no surprises. The blows to the head killed her.”
“Got it,” Jo said.
“We put extra techs on the trash we picked up at the scene, along with other bits of detritus around the parking lot. Nothing seems directly related to the attack. We also checked the car but didn’t find any fingerprints that don’t belong to Scott or her husband.”
“Damn.” Jo sagged against the corner of Lopez’s desk. “But we knew that was a long shot. Everybody in the lab must be working around the clock getting all this done—please let them know we appreciate it.”
Marzillo waved her off. “Hayes helped by authorizing as much overtime as we need and rushes on the analyses. And in that vein, I have both some good news and some bad news. Bad: ballistics comparisons came back inconclusive; the bullet was too damaged to determine much of anything. Good: your idea to swab the trees outside Sandra Ashville’s house, the one you thought our killer might have leaned against? The blood turned out to be human.”
Jo perked back up. “Were they able to get a DNA profile?”
“Not yet, but it’s out on a rush. I know I don’t have to tell you still not to get your hopes up. Who knows what neighborhood child was playing in the woods.” Marzillo turned back toward the table with the fabric, and pulled out another pair of gloves. “Now that the ME is finished with the autopsy, I have the fabric used for Deena’s blindfold. I’m about to see if it matches the other blindfolds if you want to watch.”
“Should we suit up?” Jo asked.
“I’ve already separated and labeled the hairs and other matter that was attached to it, but yes, that would be best.”
Once in their PPE, they peered over as Marzillo carefully pulled out the scrunched fabric. A chill tugged at the base of Jo’s spine at the percentage covered in blood, long since dried into variegated pools of brown streaking the length. “I hope she didn’t suffer.”
Marzillo shook her head. “The ME said he was fairly certain the first blow was substantial enough to knock her unconscious. The angle of the others suggest she was already on the ground when they were administered, lying face down. The killer most likely wanted to be sure he’d finished the job.”
Small consolation, but it was something, at least.
With skilled, precise movements, Marzillo flattened the stiff fabric atop a large sheet of what looked like white butcher paper. Tiny spots of blood flaked onto it, waiting to be collected. When she had it as flat as she could manage, she shifted the paper toward the waiting pieces of fabric, stopping several inches short of allowing the pieces to touch. “I don’t think we need Lopez’s software for this one.”
The killer had sliced though this section of the cloth with quick, irregular cuts that fit easily together with one of the others.
“It matches up with Sakurai’s blindfold.” Marzillo pointed to the matching piece.
Jo mentally rotated the pieces. “There’s a missing rectangle of fabric that’s been cut away from between them.”
“Confirms there’s likely at least one more target,” Arnett said.
Jo glanced at the clock on the wall. Just past seven—Ossokov would be at work. She shot off a text to Goran and Coyne to confirm they’d tailed him successfully. “Christine, I know you just got it all, but have you made any progress on Ossokov’s personal records?”
“I’m still working on it, but it’s not promising.” Lopez stepped back, stripped off her PPE, and returned to her desk. “Based on his registered cell phone and email accounts, he doesn’t seem to have many friends and he doesn’t go out much. Work, the library, a sandwich shop, and that’s it.”
“I’m not surprised,” Arnett said. “Other than the girlfriend, he was a loner back when we originally investigated him.”
“He does go for a walk around the neighborhood every afternoon, but according to the location tracker, his movement is continuous. No stops for any period long enough to register.”
“Is the tracker sensitive enough to pick it up if he just drops something off or picks it up?”
Lopez pursed her lips skeptically. “Depends on how quickly he did it. When I walk my mom’s dog and she makes a deposit in the bank of life, that doesn’t take long enough for Google to mark it as a destination. So it’d have to take longer than that.”
“Can you map it out for us? It might be worth at least driving by and looking for anything obvious. I’ll also check around the sandwich shop,” Jo said.
“Could be he’s leaving his real phone at home when he does whatever he does with the burner phones,” Arnett said.
Jo nodded. “I don’t suppose we can pull out any cell-tower magic like we did to catch Diana— No.” Jo cut herself off. “That only worked because her phone was at the target locations only on specific days and times that we already knew about, and not there at others.”
Lopez touched her finger to her nose. “But I’ll keep digging, and I’ll stop by the dental office tomorrow during the day, see if anybody there has anything to say about him.”
